1. Field of the Invention
A cover for a slide-out unit found on recreational vehicles, mobile homes, and the like, includes a canopy and scissors-type support arms which extend as the slide-out unit is extended from the main body of the vehicle. The scissors arms are mounted at a bias so that a support bar across the underside of the canopy is raised as the awning cover is extended and lowered as the awning cover is retracted with the slide-out unit. One edge of the canopy is secured to the side of the vehicle while the other edge is secured to a roll bar mounted in a housing secured to the slide-out unit so that the roll bar is moved away from the vehicle as the cover is extended and retracted toward the side of the vehicle as the cover is retracted. The housing includes a pivotal and removable closure plate providing easy access to the roller for maintenance and for the removal of debris that accumulates on the canopy and is captured in the housing when the cover is retracted.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Mobile homes have been a mainstay for housing for many years and in more recent years motor home type structures have been used and are commonly referred to recreational vehicles. Similarly, trailers incorporating features of a recreational vehicle are becoming more popular and in each instance, it has become desirable to have the main body of the mobile home, recreational vehicle, trailer, or the like, expandable to selectively enlarge the living space within the vehicle. In order to accommodate such enlargement, mobile homes, recreational vehicles, trailers, and the like, are now sometimes provided with a slide-out unit which is a box-like structure having top and bottom walls as well as side walls and an outer wall with the box-like structure being motor driven between a retracted position within the interior of the vehicle and an extended position away from one side of the vehicle.
A common problem encountered with slide-out units resides in the fact that debris, such as leaves, dust, dirt, or the like, will accumulate on the top wall of the slide-out unit when the unit is extended. When the unit is subsequently retracted, the debris is brought into the interior of the vehicle. To avoid debris being brought into the vehicle during a retraction of a slide-out unit, covers have been provided over the top of the unit which extend with the slide-out unit and also retract with the unit. Any debris accumulating on the cover is therefore discarded as the unit retracts and the cover is rolled into a housing typically provided on the side of the vehicle.
An example of an extendible cover for slide-out units is found in U.S. Pat. No. RE37,567, which is of common ownership with the present application, and while the system disclosed in this patent overcomes some problems that were previously prevalent with the use of slide-out units, the solutions have not been entirely satisfactory as the cover is flat when extended and generally coextensive with the top of the slide-out unit so that debris, rain, and the like will accumulate on the cover. An improvement is found in copending application Ser. No. 10/964,840 filed Oct. 13, 2004 entitled Awning Cover for Slide-Out Unit for Recreational Vehicles, which is also of common ownership with the present application. In the cover disclosed in that application, the canopy component of the cover is raised at an intermediate location as the cover is extended so as to form a gable-like configuration encouraging debris and the like to be automatically discarded from the cover.
All debris is not discarded during retraction of the awning even in an awning of the type described and disclosed in application Ser. No. 10/964,840, and, accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a system whereby such debris could be more effectively prevented from being brought into the interior of the vehicle upon retraction of the awning.
It is to provide improvements in awning covers for slide-out units solving the problems raised above that the present invention has been developed.